Choice Morsels

 Actually getting this written on Wednesday this week! Swallowtail Butterfly Caterpillar on Parsley: It's not been a good year for butterfly caterpillars over-all. I've seen numerous eggs and tiny infant caterpillars, only to find them completely gone. I think wasps or spiders or something pick them them. But I managed to save this one---I covered the container with fine netting to keep away insect predators.  He or she is full size now, so I removed the netting today. Soon he'll wish to depart to cocoon and I didn't want the net to interfere. I love the striped and spotted pattern. A Flower Mix Out Front: I thought the Purple Shamrock leaves mingled with the Dusty Miller, plus a Shamrock flower and the orange buds from the Hen & Chicks was really pretty.  The Dusty Miller and Shamrocks surround a strawberry terra cotta pot of Hen & Chicks.

This week's Garden Pic is a nice close-up shot of a Dusty Miller flower head: Dusty Miller is a common landscape plant around here in Northwest Florida. It's got a nice blue green color and winters over. I had a friend who expressed astonishment seeing this Dusty Miller bloom. She didn't realize they flowered!  

I wrote a reminder on my computer "sticky note," to cover my containers for possible freezing temperatures Thursday & Friday night! Even so, there's usually a variation of temps with such predictions in our area depending one's distance or nearness to the Gulf. Twenty miles north or more might experience a hard freeze that turns bird baths to ice, while where we live, which is moderated by the sea air a bit more, might stay slightly above freezing at 34 or 35.  So it's hard to tell, but best to be prepared. If the jet stream swings low enough, it can push all the Gulf air out to sea and then Jack Frost will do more then nip our noses--he'll bite our faces off. I'm going to cover my Bell Peppers with clear plastic yard bags today, which will serve as a greenhouse. I just need to throw a towel over the potted flowers overnight. Everything else can handle it. For today I have a nice picture of the table arrangement I made with fresh Christmas...

Today was mowing day. Also I had to pick up a bunch of clutter from a blustery thunderstorm a couple days ago. It kicked up a wind that pummeled the roof and sides of the house with green pine cones, like little missiles.  Bang. Bang. Thud. Plus threw a bunch of dead branches on the ground. Another thunderstorm will arrive in about an hour. It might undo my clean-up! Today's Garden Pic is one from early spring this year, back when the chrysanthemums I have planted along the front walk under the kitchen bay window were blooming. I have multiple colors, but the white mini-mums next to the Dusty Miller was especially eye-catching. The two together have almost a Christmasy look. Here in Florida, mums can bloom twice a year. I cut them back short after they start turning brown in the summer heat and they come back from the root, then bloom again late in the fall. I'm thinking it will take a good fertilizing in late fall and early spring to get the best out of the...

Today's Garden Pics are shots of my Cheers Daffodils from bud to fully open to vase! Cheers Daffodils are a cluster style daffodil with multiple small double blossoms. I ordered them from a nursery catalog and those 5 original bulbs multiply every year, giving me more and more! They have a light, sweet fragrance reminiscent of baby powder. Buds:  Ready to Open:   Fully Open: Vased with Dusty Miller:   This is a small nosegay style arrangement in a 5-inch ginger jar vase with 3 stems of Cheers Daffodils and two Dusty Miller stems with the Daffodils arrangement in a cluster on one side & Dusty Miller on the other. Both perform well in a vase! A lovely Cheer-ful bouquet to brighten this gray & rainy winter day with their sweet fragrance!  (Dusty Miller can be rooted in water, so I'm hoping these might root along the way, too!) ***** That's it for today! Do check out my Mama Kat Thursday post!